AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No. I mean, there’s no drama around him with women. I would have heard about it. Not now. I guess when he was a little younger, there was, but now he’s been a little solitary.”
“How did you hear that? You’re not here enough for that.”
“I’m on the Juniper Springs Express.”
I roll my eyes. I have the app. In fact, Nancy told me it was vital that I have it, but it’s just gossip for the most part. I don’t have time for that.
“How did you get on it?”
“Estella Howard got me on. At the last LOL meeting they set me up.”
That is the first time I’ve heard her talk about being friendly with Estella. She’s Nancy’s grandmother and the richest woman in the county. She’s a tiny woman, but she scared me the one time I met her.
“Anyway, back to your bang buddy.”
“He is not my bang buddy,” I say in a furious whisper, even as memories of our night together are drowning me. I drop down on the sofa next to her.
“Why are you looking like your world is ending? It’s not a big deal.”
My sisters have no idea. They make jokes, but they really don’t know how lonely I’ve been since Sam died. None of them would have a problem with going out and finding a man for the night, but that’s never been my thing. I didn’t have that many lovers before meeting Sam. And never have I had a reaction to a man like I did with Mason. Just the thought of his mouth on me, the way he would use that tongue of his—
“Earth to Liv.”
I blink and look at my sister, who is smiling at me. “What?”
“You had a dreamy look on your face.”
I feel my cheeks heat even more, but Avery shakes her head.
“Don’t be embarrassed. You should have some fun. You always do so much for everyone else.”
This time I’m blinking against the hot tears in my eyes. Avery is a goofball, or that’s what people think. But she has a way of paying attention to people when they don’t realize it.
She scoots closer and wraps an arm around me. “You don’t have to do anything about it, but I say if he wants to get you back in bed, go for it.”
“Oh, he doesn’t want to mess around with an older woman like me.”
“Uh, he already did,” Avery says.
“I mean, like long-term.”
“Maybe not, but from the look on his face today, he would like at least another night. I think you would like that too.”
I would. More than anything else in the world, I want to go knock on his door. But I have too much on my plate and adding my next-door neighbor as my lover is not on the menu.
“I can’t.”
“Liv—”
“No, Avery, you don’t understand.” None of them do. I would never wish single motherhood on anyone else in my life. “Those two kids…I’m all they have. And I have a lot to deal with. Adding in booty calls with a younger man who lives next door is not on my list.”
“No one calls them booty calls. Only old people do that.”
“Get bent,” I say with a laugh, which I know is what she was aiming for. I know she would love for me to stay up to talk about Mason, but I can’t. If I do that, I will start fantasizing what it would be like to throw caution to the wind. “I have an early morning, so I’m off to bed.”
“Ugh. Okay, but remember something,” she says, and I stop to listen to her. Avery jokes a lot, but I’ve learned to listen to her when she gets that serious tone. “You have a right to happiness. Just because you lost Sam doesn’t mean that you don’t deserve another chance at love.”
There’s a lump in my throat because she genuinely believes that. But I know better. That, at least right now, all I have time for are my kids and my job.
